Challenges of Perception
by CataclysmicReality
Summary: Follow one woman as she jouneys through the strange and the unusal of the CCS world. Spawned from the forums, the true direction is the real mystery.
1. Nature of the Beast

**Challenge #1**

_Nature of the Beast  
_

* * *

**Challenge:** Write a one-shot about Syaoran describing/comparing all his actions to those of dogs. 

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** Teen

**Canon:** Yes... but extremely distantly placed.

**Length:** 4,354 words including everything...

**

* * *

**

Yes, I borrowed this format from Kaori just as to keep it on a familiar level with all of the voters.

As for my story itself... it actually only has subtle mentions of wolf characteristics. But oh well. Actually, this will serve as Dante-ish way of going through the different challenges, with an unwitting forum member as the main character that bears witness to these happenings. Also involved is a side plot, as to keep things in the story fashion I'm used to. It should be enough to keep my interest up there.

Anyways, here it is:

* * *

**Nature of the Beast**

Typical things happen on typical days. Such is the way of things, and such is how boring life can be. But the same can be true about atypical days… for atypical things happen. Well, whether expected or not, sometimes neither holds true… and typical gives way not only to atypical, but positively anything but.

Today is such a day.

It seemed to flow as any standard day, and any day of the standard kind usually meant standard practice… and so it was…

Wake as any normal woman would wake. Undertake the usually responsibilities of the day just as any other day, as it comes at you in the flow it does. And so it comes time for this normal individual to undertake her normal online practice and international obligation. And so she does.

It is the usual ramble. It is the usual talk of talk, the usual actions of those who talk, and the usual false excitement of pretend insanity… that neither serves purpose nor significant worth. Ah… but such is forum life… and so it goes.

However, today is different, for the forum traverser known only to those of the forum as Zadien, knows that there is a lot less activity of the day. She knows that there is someone that is missing. But why would that concern her? That person isn't good, and despite claiming innocence, only abuses his imaginary practice by making unnatural and complex advances on her whether there is feigned interest or not. Even going as far as to take advantage of her mental exhaustion by suggesting them to be engaged! What a joke.

But as it is… this is a person that knows something of what _is_ important to her, and that being the mysteries surrounding her country… and even her home. It is a person she could come to actually like…

No!

What the hell was she thinking? With that intruding upon her thoughts, she definitely had to get away from that machine.

Using some believable excuse, she kindly excused herself from the festivities, and got up, and of all places, went to the window.

Why the window of all places, even she would like to know… for the only thing out there were the acres of sheep that dominated her life. Well, not only hers, but there were a fair number of sheep farmers in the area. As such it was, it was fairly boring.

Odd… there were no sheep.

Curious, she went to the other window, where they were sure to have gathered. Yet, once again… there were none.

Frowning, she moved to the door, slipping on her shoes and a coat, for the obvious reasons of the gloom of the weather… where it seemed to only rain.

Why her? Wasn't she deserving of a bright day at least once?

But upon pushing past the door, and to the world beyond, she thought herself to be delusional, because it was impossible to have missed what were so clearly and so overwhelmingly right in front of her eyes. For the sheep had been found.

Slightly annoyed, she turned to go back into the house when she stopped.

Why bother? She already didn't feel like the computer… and it was still too early for bed. Besides, the sheep were here, and though her father was out for the moment, he would be back before she knew it. And the weather…

She put her hood back and turned her eyes to the sky. Odd…. It was odd. Not that there was no rain… but the gloom had gone… to be replaced with this… this foreboding? It was truly strange.

Still, maybe it was just that the pixels had scrambled her brain.

Why not? It had happened before… after all… computer pixels were evil.

With a nervous sigh, coupled with a weary laugh, she decided that she had had enough of being around the house. Also… it felt like today was just a day for being out… and so it was that she decided. She decided to go for a walk.

It just seemed like a good idea… even though it was more likely to be not.

* * *

Time…

It seems to carry meaning to those in a hurry… and it seems to pursue those without it, just as for Zadien, who had no sense for why she was walking, time was without cause…

Still… though she wasn't sure how long she had walked, she knew where she had traveled. In fact, there was little doubting it. For she knew the site well.

The last bastion of the Formorians.

_Why? _She pondered, feeling abnormally aloof. _ Why here?_

"Because this is where it begins."

Startled, she whirled around to face the origin of the voice… one which seemed to come from behind. Which was odd in itself, considering she had just passed the very spot in which he sat.

Furthermore, who was this?

As stranger he was, that reeked of uncertainty.

And why not? A man alone as alone gets, huddled against ancient stone with little more protection from the Irish weather than the simple bundled cloak that robed him. A cloak of sorts black as night, and one that held dominance over his face, which did not betray the slightest of human features save for a mouth and a hint of a nose.

"I-I'm sorry," she started, "do I know you? Or rather… were you talking to me?"

The man cocked his head, but with only a slight of his head, one which did little to disrupt his integrity.

"You are the one who has come."

"I… kind of live around here."

"That matters? Oh well, I guess it should. After all, only those trusting of the area would associate with one such as I in a place such as this."

Zadien took a different stance and looked indignant. "What's that supposed to mean? That I would be frightened?"

The man seemed to consider her words a moment, before he nodded his head and smiled through suppressed amusement.

"That's true… and I'm glad you feel as you do."

"Really…? And why is that?"

"Because it means I can talk with you longer now."

Zadien felt uncomfortable. People usually didn't appear from nowhere… and they usually didn't request audience in such ways. It was simply weird.

"So…" she started, "What did you want to say?"

"Say…" He smiled. "It's less about what to say, and what to see."

"What to… see?" She looked at him oddly, for he was truly such… and the words, though they sounded normal, seemed anything but. "I… I don't think I understand you. What do you mean?"

He smiled again… and every time, it sent a chill through her spine.

"Sometimes… words carry more meaning than sight… sometimes feel has more meaning than words… sometimes sight is what's important. It's the mysteries that we carry that makes each worth its own value.

"Today, for you, it is your sight that has the most meaning… though it may be wrong."

"Wrong? What do you mean by wrong-"

But just as she looked up, the nature of the world around her had shifted. Like the sheep before, the normal was no longer, and in its place, that of confusion. However, it lasted no longer than with the sheep, before it had returned to what she had known.

"Because it's you."

She backed away. This man was dangerous… and based on where she was… was he even a man?

If she couldn't trust her eyes, then what he said and what he was were likely conflicting.

"What…?"

"Because it's you…

"Shall I show you? That you wished to see once… or what you seek now? The answer to what you see lies only with what you've seen… and what you wish to view."

"What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then what you see is this… your normal life. How boring, for your eyes remain shut, despite how your heart reaches. To ignore that curiosity in vision… is truly to ignore yourself. It must be a painful life… to live such a way."

"You… stop… you're confusing me."

He reached his hand out, not necessarily to her, but definitely away from his body.

"Take it… for it is the hand that offers the reality. It is the hand of one who offers sight, but cannot see."

"I…"

She hesitated.

Every impulse and instinct told her to step away… to deny… but she was curious. And if she left it alone… she'd always be curious. But to take it?

"To see… is to experience. To accept the hand, is to accept the vision, for it is the hand that leads the way. But you'll only see what the hand knows. Will you take it?"

Zadien hesitated… the man sounded like he was on crack… every force in this world was telling her not to do it.

So she listened to the ones she had yet to see, closed her eyes, and took his hand.

And when she opened her eyes again, she could see nothing at all…

For her all she saw of this new world… was one of the void.

* * *

"NOOOO!"

He had tricked her!

She slammed her balled fist against the rock face in front of her and slid down against it.

She was an idiot! She had put her trust in some kook she didn't know, and didn't even trust, and now she was blind! What a load of horseshit!

Life wasn't fair.

Unable to stand it, she leaned against the cold stone and began to cry…

And that's when it hit her.

There were no stones this big on the hill. Then she wasn't blind… but maybe… in a tomb?

"Heh… there aren't many who'd come to a new world only to turn away from the light."

Both relieved and angry, she got up and turned to give him a piece of her mind, when she stopped. After all… it just dawned on her that no longer was anything familiar; nothing was the same… even the fact that it was night.

Baffled, she looked to the figure, and then in the direction he was facing.

"Where-?"

But a shake of his head made her fall quiet again, and then looked away.

"It has begun."

…

As she fell quiet, she tried to absorb her settings… tried to gather her bearings. After all, there were simply too many questions.

Where was she?

What was about to begin?

Why here… why this place?

Still… nothing would be solved by mentally ranting, or else the questions would simply overlap or intensify… especially if they were answered during the moment missed.

With a deep, calming breath, she leaned against the stone behind her, and tried to relax.

…

Though it was what he said… had it really begun? All she knew was that this was not Ireland… this was not her home.

It definitely was not.

But even still… it carried itself as her home would. But then it was also different… much different from even the stranger of times.

And yet again… it seemed similar in an unexpected way… in a way she was sure to have felt… ah! Like before… outside her house… the foreboding?

She eyed the stranger, whose eyes remained as they had, hidden. Was the feeling earlier… and this feeling now… connected? It wasn't possible… was it?

Still… at least she knew why it was as it was, for the air then and the air now were very much the same. Heavy… very heavy.

She wasn't sure she had ever felt air this way.

Then there was the wind… a cold wind that did not make her such, for the senses did not make sense as they should. Harmony was upset… balance was off… and normalcy, in ways she couldn't explain it, just didn't feel normal. And this aura of power... it almost made her feel like the world itself was bleeding.

Suddenly, she was pulled from her senses as a breath of light breached its containment of the sky, and let her surroundings be known as its true form would have it, and as memory would paint it with recognition.

All around her they appeared, like great ghosts from the darkness. Ghosts… those that came in the form of past monuments of the element earth… those of the great stone slabs that numbered far more than just the one she had flung herself against in her moment of insecurity. And it was that these stones came not as individuals, but greater beings linked in conjunction with select members, and fashioned so they'd stand in a ring… thus to admire each other for countless eons… as watchers over the men who had arranged them… and all their ancestors hence since.

It was at this moment… that Zadien finally recognized her placement… which was none other than the great Stonehenge. The Earthen mystery of the Salisbury Plain.

But why?

Why this place… what was the purpose?

_To observe._

Observe what… she wanted to ask… but to do such was something she had already known better of.

Still… there had to be a reason… and she felt that the reason was tied in which this feeling that held her heart. Though the most important question in all this was her exact purpose…

What was it she was supposed to be seeing?

Just then, as if to answer her question, the wind shifted and the air changed with it.

Something was happening… and it wasn't normal.

But before she knew what it was playing with her senses, she became aware that she wasn't as alone as she first thought, for someone was standing just forward of the heel-stone. Someone she was certain she didn't know, yet they felt familiar… like she had seen them before. It… just how was such possible?

Still, how she could even see resemblance was extraordinary in itself since the figure before her was overwhelmingly concealed in the darkness of the night. With him and his appearance, he carried resemblance to that of a wild animal, a nocturnal creature driven forward instinct and scent alone, as well as other forces beyond human understanding. With him, he carried the feel of a predator.

A predator hunting what?

Still, it was a predator that had her undivided attention, as one would be foolish to look away. A predator of mystery. But such was this… this man.

Then, just as he entered the stone circle completely, the winds and the unnatural feelings upon them ceased… and the world grew silent… just as the light from the sky vanished, and encased the world in darkness.

But as the darkness fell, as shadows fall… there was the response of light.

Such was a soft light… an eerie light… and it seemed to be emanating from the stones themselves in the form of a rich blue glow. A glow that for the first time, truly allowed the man to be seen. Let her see him as he truly was.

It was a man, which came dressed in plain clothes, yet ones that seemed dated to a time when the world existed in simplicity… and struggle. Clothes of grayish-white, thick material cloth, form fitting in some areas, slightly loose in others, that gave the description of the animal more justice, for this as it was, was the creatures fur. That which with the shadows, resembled a wolf's fur.

Apart from his clothes, she was drawn by his form and manner. How he held himself tall and formidable. Attractive and elegant, yet rugged and powerful. From his deep amber eyes, to his rich chocolate brown hair… the way he set his jaw and kept his chin high. Everything about his looks set him to be in his early twenties… but from just the sense about him, just that… he was no pup… no, just from his way, he seemed to carry many years upon him. In short… he was beautiful.

Unaware, she put her hand to her heart, knowing full well the characteristics of animal attraction. So attracted, that she was just about to take a step forward when a hand gripped her shoulder, and the man that had brought her here shook his head. For after all… she was merely here to witness.

Witness what, though, there were too many questions… too many-

There… she heard it there. As such, so did he.

It was slight, as slight as though uttered by a spirit, but there all the same. Whisperings in the still of the night. Whisperings of no meaning… whisperings she could not recognize. Whisperings of what though? For one who was to see… she couldn't see anything.

However, though she didn't know… it was certain that the man knew. For he wore a look of great distaste and annoyance. And then he added that of his own whisper to the night… and it came from between his teeth in the form of a growl.

"Wraiths…"

At once, upon the utter of the name, the whisperings stopped. For a moment, all was calm… but an instant later, everything came clear.

Ghost-like, and translucent, they emerged from around the stones, from the stones, above the stones. Beings that looked human… but that had lost their humanity and the life they had. Beings that seemed to hover above the ground, while their tattered clothes seemed to drift on the tides of their own energy patterns, as it wafted about them in an ethereal fashion. Beings that in all likelihood… had no souls of their own, considering their look and feel… which was too ominous to describe accurately.

However… was he there to fight them? If so… why was he so calm… why so collected? In sheer numbers alone, they grossly outnumbered him.

Why would he do such?

"Sssssssyaaaaaoooorraaaan…"

_Syaoran?_

That was… Syaoran? It couldn't be. Syaoran wasn't real.

"Sssssssyaaaaaoooorraaaan…."

She looked at the man before her again… and remembered the boy she had been used to in the anime… and even who she had grafted an image to in the fan fictions… were they truly the same? This Syaoran… was a bit frightening. To be so calm…

It was scary.

Syaoran looked up and briefly over his shoulder, regarding their numbers of easily fifty or more. Then he looked to the one that had been speaking his name. The armless, legless entity that floated in the air with its greenish-blue aura and its sickly figure.

Once more, it opened its mouth, which was the only part that was truly visible from its flowing robes, and started to speak.

"Ssssssssyaa-"

"That's enough." Syaoran put his hand behind his shoulder, and grasped a sword hilt that she had missed before. "After all… you annoy me."

In response, the wraith before him threw back its cloak and burst in flames of the same energy, just before emerging as a fully capable warrior, one clearly human with all its appendages, and brandishing its own spectral blade. Like that, it rushed forward, intent on striking him down.

But it never got the chance.

Before it had even finished its transformation, Syaoran pulled his sword from its sheath… but not as the sword that was know before. This sword… was definitely not the sword of his youth. Although it was identical, something had happened in which to damage it… impair it even… for it was no longer whole.

In truth, the blade looked fractured… separated. As it was… it existed as metal and energy… a blade of metal and magic. In truth… it existed as the same in his youth… but now the two seemed contrasted… apart. But with it, just as the fangs of the carnivore no longer hidden, Syaoran lashed out, and neatly cleaved the wraith in two… even going as far as to slice the opponents sword.

It was with this action… that Zadien had come to the conclusion… that this… the man who was named "little wolf", was indeed no longer. He was a full blown killer… and this was no nightly hunt. This was a fight over territory.

Either of which were truly frightening. Leaving her a loss for words both actual and mental.

…

In response to the first wraith's defeat, the others rushed forward and transforming on the way, some of which passed by or through Zadien herself, leaving her in further shock.

However, Syaoran was far from unprepared.

With the first couple, he lunged at them… a swift and calculating predatory beast, intent on quick resolve... and so it came. But for the others, the next line and beyond, his actions began to reflect less calculation and every instance of that of an animal truly feral.

Warriors on warriors, animals fighting animals… one beast to another… where was the line drawn? Where… amongst the blood shed… and the savagery… and the brutal characteristics unrecognizable as possibly human… where could the line fall?

There were no answers.

And for a truly successful carnivore… there is nothing that stays hidden. Even such an animal as the wolf has its other attributes. And like a wolf that has to resort to using its claws, as well as its teeth, he summoned his other strength. From his pockets, he pulled not his papers, but instead summoned spheres of energy. Each with its own color… each as its own independent form. And their purpose?

He smiled.

Just as he cut down one enemy, a sphere came to his side, in front of another. To it, he raised his hand… and within the same line as his arm, the opponent burst into flames of Syaoran's making. Again he performed the same technique… but with that of a different sphere, and it served to electrocute his adversary.

And so it continued… the spirits around him… and his sword in tune. Nothing was apart… nothing was separate. Just as an animal uses only attributes of itself, so too did Syaoran, born of magic, he shared the responsibilities of such… and in such a way he could relate to those of a different caliber. In such ways, that magic was his attributes.

And through the course of the rest of the battle… whether it be an attack of steel, water, electricity, wind, or fire… he brought it to swift resolve.

When it was over… He took a moment to collect himself, and knelt among the bloodied bodies of his adversaries' where he paused to lick his own wounds, few as they were, before turning his attention onward.

However… though the fight was over… his teeth remain bared… his fur stay bristled… and his heart remained rapid.

But something was wrong. Though he had won… though his enemies were destroyed and territory recovered… he was acting as though he had lost. It was very difficult… to place the emotions of a pacing animal.

And then it happened… all the pent up energy… all the frustration. At the moon in all its fullness, which had just chosen to make its appearance in the night sky, he yelled, not in a cry of victory… but as would sound the long and mournful cry of the wolf. And then… when he could yell no more, he collapsed to the ground, and even the unnatural glow of the stones faded to normalcy. And the pale moon was the only light.

But then… he lifted his head, whether at a smell or a sound, she could not tell.

Apparently collected, he sheathed his blade, and eased his heart. Without a sound, he then proceeded towards one of the stones, which was slightly thicker than the others. It was a stone he put his hand to as tentatively as a wolf would place its paw upon an object of curiosity.

Like water, the deception over the stone flowed off and into the material world, and what it left, was that which made all the difference. For what it left was a young girl, no older than eight. A girl that resembled Sakura. A girl that was asleep.

With a gentle hand, he nosed the girl from her slumber, making sure to keep the blood from the battle out of sight. With soft eyes of hazel, she looked at the man distantly as she blinked herself awake.

"F… father?"

Syaoran smiled and lifted the girl into his arms. "Were you having a bad dream?"

The girl shook her head. "No… but I don't remember how I got here either…"

"That's ok. You were just sleepwalking." He offered. "But we should return home before we make your mother worry. But it's ok now."

"I can… sleep?"

"Yes, Dawn, you may sleep."

"…okay…"

"Let's go home."

…

As Syaoran picked his way through the body riddled ground, Zadien's heart seemed to melt.

Feeling at ease, she turned to the man beside her.

"I don't know why you wanted to show me this… but that really doesn't matter now. What matters is… who are you?" She demanded. "Just tell me… tell me your name… tell me why you're hiding behind that cloak… what did you mean earlier about seeing and all that?"

"To speak is to see… to see is to experience… for you who have seen me and for me who has yet to see you… I can only share words. For even being heard… is beyond the scope of our abilities."

"AArrrrgh! Stop fucking with me!" With that, she grabbed his hood and wrenched it free, just before she gasped.

For the man before her… could not see her. For the man before her had no eyes.

* * *

"AAAHHH!"

Zadien bolted upright and tried to get away… but she only managed to push back both her chair, and her keyboard in front of her.

_What the?_

Like an idiot… she had fallen asleep at her computer. And surprisingly enough… she had never left the forum at all.

So what the hell was all that?

She didn't know… but it only meant that the questions would only continue… until she found the answer. An answer she would definitely find.


	2. Desperation

**Challenge #2**

_Desperation  
_

* * *

**Challenge:** One-shot where there is a canon couple (no romance), they have to mention Syaoran's sword. 

**Genre:** Action/Adventure

**Rating:** Teen

**Canon:** Yes... but extremely distantly placed. (but placed before the previous challenge's time)

**Length:** 3,849 words including everything...

**

* * *

**

Kaori's form from last time.

The epic continues: (if you want to actually get to the challenge part, you'll have to skip a little over half way down)

* * *

**Desperation**

She could feel it. She knew it was there, as well as what she saw before her. She could tell... after all, how could all five senses lie?

No, she had to believe it. She was there after all. The memories described everything. The press of the cold stone, the weight of the air, the smell of the grassy plain, and how would she ever mistake that battle for anything but reality? Even if Syaoran wasn't real… she saw him without a doubt. She still saw him.

Actually, he was hard to miss. An impressive body, a raging animalistic passion, and looks to die for. She wanted to touch him… just to say she had.

Timidly, cautiously, she reached out, just to brush the skin… just once. Just a touch. Then… then she sighed.

When she opened her eyes it was to a purplish-white ghost of nothingness, with her hand outstretched in front of her. But even that wasn't right.

Feeling like a fool with her arm in the air, she lowered it back to her side, yet continued to stare at her ceiling as though it held the mysteries of life… when the sad truth was that the ceiling in her room was just as boring and dull as was her unoccupied bed. Despite that it had some use, seeing how it was upon it she now lie. Still…

She swung her legs to one side and sat up. She had it. Let someone else wallow their life away… but not her… oh no, Zadien was a cut above the rest. After all, she goes places, and even though it was strange… creepy… and maybe even just a dream, she went somewhere no one else was likely to have. That is, unless that guy frequently took hapless women touring around distant realities.

What craziness would that be?

She shrugged to her own pondering, and then laughed despite herself. Still…

She regarded the computer with a kind of loathing.

_Lightning, eh? What a load of bull…_

No internet… no forum… she was just going to have to make due with what she had. Which was much of nothing exciting.

"Ahhhh…"

She ran her fingers down the pane of glass in the window absently, and looked lazily into the hills. It hit her suddenly… like a chill. Should she do it? It would definitely take her mind off boredom and focus it on the prospect of adventure... but should she really give that experience enough credence to entertain such a notion?

Why not?

Bizarre as the notion… it might just be worth it. After all, it was her… and if it helped to defeat boredom, then it would make all the difference.

Without another thought, without one last distraction, she grabbed her coat, and set off.

On her way, she noted that today was different than the other day. The air did not have the gloominess as before. There was no difference she could determine… other than a profound gloominess… but heck, that was normal for this season.

Although, there was a bit more mist than usual in the hills. But what did that matter?

* * *

Shortly later, she arrived at the site from before. While it took her longer this time, it was mostly due to the internal conflicts of mental sanity. After all… did any of this make sense? Of course not. Not even to her… but it was almost as though she was being pushed in this direction. 

Pushed by what though, that was the question that remained a mystery.

Still…

Zadien regarded her surroundings. They were pretty much the same as before… so there shouldn't be a difference in situations. Though… the situation was still short one creepy, evil dude.

And just on an 'unexplainable' hunch, that seemed like the needed piece of this puzzle.

But because of his absence, it was ever more increasing the likelihood that she had no destination other than home.

As such… it was too depressing a situation, a depression encouraged by the low mist/fog that hugged her ankles and lay spread across the ground. However, to give up now, that was something that just was out of the question. It was mostly because there were still things to do here, at this old fort site.

With the idea of exploration in mind, she crossed the ancient threshold of the now defeated evil, and began to haphazardly weave through the humble stone field, carefully keeping mind of the possibly hidden stones under foot. As far as the actual field went, there wasn't much, due to the effectiveness of nature's cleaning… but there was enough to stoke the fires of imaginary imagery. And there was no guarantee that every trace of the past was eroded.

So with that set thought train, she selectively created the various mental images of what the place once held. Of course, having done this before, and still disappointed from the let down, she just wasn't in the mood. With slouched posture, she turned around, and began picking her way back, when she stopped.

Something was odd.

For some reason, the fog had elevated, and was now much thicker in the places she had already passed.

Curious, she looked back to what should be the clear path as it was before.

It wasn't. Hell… it was anything but clear.

Slightly perturbed, but remaining calm, she took a deep breath to steady herself, and then Zadien acknowledged the best thing to do was to just find her way back. Besides… she hadn't traveled far. The only trick ahead of her was to proceed in a careful manner as so she didn't bump into a rock or something. A bruised shin was the last thing she wanted.

Although… it was entirely possible that that would be the least of her worries.

As fate would have it, she had no sooner processed the thought, when something seemed to grab her foot, and rip balance from her world. Then, as she fell, light was ripped from her world as she fell forward, and through the fog. What happened afterwards was unclear, but a sudden pain found its way into her head.

And sound disappeared.

* * *

When the pain eased, Zadien rolled onto her back and cursed her luck. That she would trip so carelessly… even after all the precautions she took! She felt terrible. 

Just what the hell was with that fog… is what she wanted to know more than anything. Also… also…

She looked up and her thoughts came still as light re-entered her world. But it was a strange light, one that rippled… like water? As though she was drowning…

Quickly she flipped over, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was definitely air she was in… and the source of the light wasn't above… it was behind.

With profound curiosity echoing through her soul, she came to see a most curious sight.

There before her, was a stone basin, an old one. It was very shallow, and roughly a yard in diameter. But that wasn't it. For all her memories of this place, there was nothing like this. What's more… it wasn't water that gave the reflection, but light itself… that behaved as a fluid would.

_What the hell?_

Zadien propped herself on an elbow, and with the other hand, reached out slowly – just as she had reached towards the dream Syaoran before – just to see if it was reality. After all… she had never seen such a thing. It was an unknown… completely unknown. It didn't even give a reflection.

She had to touch it… she must.

"I wouldn't."

Zadien stopped and forcibly ripped her eyes away from the surface of the mystery 'fluid' to search for the owner of that voice; after all, she knew that voice.

She didn't have to look far.

Just on the other edge of the pool stood the man that she had set out to see.

"You?" she questioned with surprise. Even though she was fascinated with that in front of her, she definitely would have noticed him before… and he wasn't. He couldn't have been.

"Of course," he started again, his tone changing to one of amusement. "If you really want to, I'm not one to stop you."

Uncertain by his words, Zadien overcame the fierceness of her curiosity and withdrew her hand.

"So… I suppose you know what it is?"

He smiled.

"You do know." She pressed on.

"I do."

"Then what-?"

He knelt down and waved his hand over the fluid, and it retreated with a low hiss.

So shocked by the reaction of what was supposed to be a simple fluid, Zadien quickly pushed herself away. That reaction just wasn't normal of anything she knew.

"This…" he motioned toward the fluid, "is not of this world. The stone… and the 'fluid', were crafted and created by the dark ones… the Devine Powers, of the gods of night, death, and cold. It only shows itself in times of depression, as it is the basin of grief and despair… pains of death, and passing.

"Why then, it showed itself to you, one who is pained by none of these, is the true mystery. But perhaps a desperate feeling… a thought of extreme proportions. Such that can breach realities or maybe it just felt like it."

He stood quietly, the bottom of his robes swishing across the basin in an oscillatory movement. Though a normal rhythmic motion, it alone seemed to excite the light once more. With no more provocation than that alone, the secret of the light offered itself to its witnesses as a spectral skeletal arm of the same light emerged from the basin, and caught the hem of the robes. The owner of those robes seemed to take little notice.

Using its grip, the shape continued to pull itself free of the light pool until half of an eerie aqua-luminescent skeleton was easily visible. A moment later, another began climbing on the first, and then another after that until there were three separate ghostly skeletons clinging to the robes and reaching up towards the man who was surprisingly calm in the situation.

After a moment of listening to their silent pleas, he turned to face Zadien with a smile.

"It seems as though they're interested. It is not their usual way of things… but for today, they'd like to show you, their guest, what they have to offer." He seemed to bask in her look of unease, and then turned his attention back to the skeletons, and offered the same hand he waved over the fluid.

With a slight hissing, they retreated in its presence, as they slowly lowered themselves back into the light pool. Just the interaction alone baffled Zadien, unable as she was to make any headway of the event. To think that she was actually about to touch that light…

What if she had?

"I-"

It was no good. As grateful as she was, she just couldn't seem to find the words.

"Well… weren't you interested?"

She looked up. Interested in what?

"After all, you were so keen to touch it before." She baulked in shock. "They won't mind."

"But… I might."

"It'll be alright. I'll come too; after all, you'll need the guide." He straightened a little more and spoke in a firmer voice. "Cast aside your doubts. You've already traveled in a similar fashion… only yesterday."

"What?" Did he mean… that she… she took a better look at his hand… but it was gloved so she couldn't see. Then her thoughts switched to the skeletal hands from the pool. _Impossible!_

"Alas… I doubt the option is a matter of choice, as of now. But fear not, I'll be along shortly."

"What do you-"

Then she gasped as icy fingers wrapped around her wrist, and a hand grasped her shoulder. She was caught! Before she could even react, or voice sound to scream, she was pulled headfirst into the basin.

* * *

Zadien gasped as a sudden icy vise clamped down upon her heart, and thrashed wildly in the nothingness as an icy infinity cascaded down her throat and spread through her lungs, and then through every fiber of her being. It was too much… too much. She was going to die! 

With that, she closed her eyes in the darkness and screamed.

* * *

As the scream ended, so did the pain, and when she opened her eyes again, she was free! No… she was in another place entirely. From the looks of it… a city. 

A ruined city.

All around, the buildings had obvious signs of structural damage and fatigue. The street on which she was standing was badly damaged as well, and matched that of the buildings. Where the road wasn't pitted, it was melted and shredded.

People were standing quite a distance away, safe from the risked of the devastation; they stood behind barriers and police lines. All were excited… yelling… crying. All of them were looking beyond her.

It was with that… that her world had gone silent once more.

She recognized it now. Just the building in front of her did nothing for placement, but the scene away from her… the shredded signs… the architecture… she was in Tokyo. And Tokyo had been hollowed.

From what she could tell… it looked like a bomb… possibly nuclear, or maybe just atomic, had detonated. Whatever the scale… the damage was extensive. Half the city was gone… and a huge crater in one part was filled with water, as though the bay had decided to take intercity residency. And then there was the fact that buildings around it were collapsed and fallen. Metro rails seemed to exist only as pathways to nothing. It was too much.

But what happened… and why?

"As key as those events… the incident itself does not matter. It is the aftermath that we came to see."

She turned around to face the robed man. For all she could see, he was without emotion. It was something that made her furious. But it was his knowledge alone that could answer her questions.

"'Incident'? 'Aftermath'? Of what? What the hell happened here?"

"Sadly, that is not important here. Time is… and it has already been over three weeks since. Come…" he placed his hand upon her shoulder and the view of the world began to shift. "Let us change location."

With that, they shifted to that of a hospital, or at least a makeshift one. No, rather it was a house, with rooms set up as a hospital would have rooms set. However, at first glance, all the rooms were empty.

"Where?" Zadien started.

But her companion – for lack of a better term – shook his head. Instead of words, he raised his arm – as he had the other day – and pointed.

At that, a man came through the door, one with black hair, a chiseled jaw, and an emotionless mask for a face. Though, it was clear that there was something on his thoughts as he walked past Zedian and through another door, into a room. Curious, she followed and came in to where he sat beside one of the beds where the room's lone occupant lay.

It was one she knew at just a glance… though she had only seen both men from the anime.

Yukito… and the other… Touya.

She wanted at once to ask, but it was clear that they were to speak, and she suspected their words would give all the information she needed.

"Yukito…"

Yukito stirred, and looked up at Touya with a smile. "Touya…" he reached his hand up slowly as he whispered Touya's name, a hand that Touya grasped with both of his. "You came back…"

"Of course I came back. I was only out for all of two minutes."

"I see," Yukito responded. It seemed as though his voice was unable to function in anything louder than the whisper he started on. "Is that… all? It felt… like days. Besides… how's Kerberos?"

Touya shook his head. "Not good. Much like you, only his production of power seems to be acting as a catalyst. Sakura's with him now."

"I… see…"

"Yukito…" Touya squeezed his hand. "I told you… I don't want to lose you, don't disappear… on me." He turned his head, to hide the emotion.

"I… I don't… think… long. My… other self… says it… will… will happen soon."

"No."

Yukito looked into Touya's eyes, his hand trembling despite being held. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead, and his breathing was starting to become labored.

"S… s'ok… just… I don't understand. Exactly…" he shook his head. "I mean… I know… what, what will… happen… to my-self. But… to… to… erhe-." Yukito's face screwed up as he winced in pain, and he began to shudder increasingly violent.

Touya held him steady, but it was obvious that his barrier to his free emotions was breaking.

"You want to know… what will happen, to Yue, and what is already happening to the stuffed animal."

Yukito nodded.

"It's…" Touya seemed to struggle with finding the words. "It's like the kid's… like Syaoran's sword. You remember… after the incident… right?"

Yukito recalled the scene where the blade appeared to crack though it was whole, and watched as fragments dissolved away, as though being erased. Again, he could do little but nod.

"It's like that… too much magic. Like erases like. Ink of the finest clarity will survive any erasing… but dump ink on it, and it will remain, but disappear." He hesitated, not wanting to finish… to admit the reality. "Just as the magical parts of the sword have faded away… you…"

Touya shut his eyes and turned away, a tear escaping from behind the emotional mask and streaking down his face.

Suddenly… Zadien recalled the sword Syaoran was wielding the day before, in the vision before. The sword was fragmented… though whole. The example of like fading like. Her eyes widened. Yue… Kero… even Suppie and Ruby… were they all going to die?

From the scene before her… it seemed likely they would.

Touya shook his head again.

"To exist… but to never be able to interact… to reach out again… it truly is dying… isn't it?"

Yukito drew in a ragged breath. "I-… I…"

Then, without warning, he yanked his hand from Touya's grip as he clutched his chest and his whole body leapt into spasms.

"Yukito!"

Touya jumped off his chair, pushing it backwards so it fell over, and quickly rushed to his dying love's side. An in that instant… the mask preventing those bottled emotions shattered.

"Yukito! Yukito!"

He wrestled with Yukito to restrain him… to calm him, but could do little but try in vain as the tears streamed from his eyes.

Suddenly, Yukito reached up and grabbed Touya's shirt and tried to pull himself to a sitting position. But Touya was a step ahead and gently pushed him back.

"Yukito! Stop!" He fought to keep him down. "You'll only accelerate the process! Please!"

"b-b-b-BUT I CAN'T BREATH!"

With that, he forced himself upright, nearly pushing Touya aside. Sweat and tears mingled as they forced their way down his face, and then he grabbed the sides of his head.

Horrible as the scene was, Zadien couldn't tear her eyes away… though she wanted to. She wanted to look away.

With a look of desperation, Yukito grabbed Touya's arm.

"My… mind… is failing… me. My body… is no longer… mine…" He took a couple raspy breaths, and then sputtered out his last sane words. "Being… with you… was my life… I'll… miss… you… forever!" He grabbed Touya's free arm and placed his hand over his heart, while he took his own hand and placed it over Touya's heart. "Here! Where… it… matters…"

"Yukito!"

Zadien finally managed to turn herself away just as Yue's body began to emerge from underneath Yukito's. Though Yue's body was just as Syaoran's sword… only it was doomed to disappear in its entirety. With that thought on her mind, she flung herself at the man who brought her this far.

"I've seen enough… please… I've seen enough!" she cried desperately as she clawed at the man. "Please… I don't want to see anymore! Please!"

The cloaked man smiled. "If that is your wish… then we'll leave this place."

"Yes! Hurry!"

He placed a hand her shoulder and at once the view began to shift as it had before, but not before a bright incandescent glow of finality claimed the room. A light she tried to shut out by burying her head against the chest of the man before her. But it was not the light… but the sound she'd never forget.

The sound of a man who's just lost a part of his heart.

"YUKITO! NOOOOO!"

* * *

Zadien's eyes flew open as she bolted upright, the sound of Touya's cry ringing still painfully in her ears. 

However, when she looked, when she truly looked, she was not in that world. She wasn't in the city… nor was she even near a stone basin. Instead, she was indeed in the rock field… but apparently, from where she was and how she felt… the pain on her head was the result of having fallen and hitting her head.

She hadn't gone anywhere.

But still… what was she eating to cause such horrible feelings? And such terrible dreams?

She could only guess. But that kind of guessing was tiring too… so with no real need to be anywhere, she closed her eyes.

As far as her boredom was concerned…and those adventures?

She hoped those days were over.

* * *

Several minutes later, Zadien had fallen asleep. 

'So… what was it that is said in the old country?

'Something meaningful… something important?'

Undaunted by the musings on the wind, shadows around the area began to shift and take shape. Soon, an entire host of dark little creatures began crawling forth from the shadows… the rocks… and the rest of the woodwork. And their beady eyes had already set upon the stranger in their midst.

'Ah yes… I remember now. Where the unsuspecting lay, it is often the demons who will play.'

And forth they went, intent in doing only what they could know.

But little did they know, the man who had accompanied her was just beyond the threshold. And he did not care for the actions of beasts… unless he was the one responsible. So, between his thumb and forefinger, he rolled that of a small ring.

A ring fastened upon a chain.

A chain that he held, but let the ring fall. And as it bottomed out, all the creatures returned to their places of origin… but not in the form of their choosing, but in that of a vanquished smoke.

All of them returned to the shadows… for only to exist as shadows.

And the smile… the smile upon the man's face was priceless as he addressed those that he had just banished.

"Let's not have any of that, shall we? For our fun has only just begun."


	3. Passage into the Beyond

Final Chapter: **Passage into the Beyond**

For what seemed like only hours Zadien's consciousness wandered between the worlds of what is and what was supposed to be without grasping the sense of logic between either. She didn't know whether he was responsible for the kaleidoscope of images or the monsters before him. She just wished it would stop.

Suddenly with no cause for why, her wish was granted.

The air was cool and wet, but not sticky as was the summer humidity. Instead it was a relaxed fog that seemed to hold her gently within a net of safety and a cradle of protection. It was a feeling that gave her goose bumps. Not very fond of that feeling she opened her eyes to a fogless afternoon.

Zadien sat up quickly as the lingering sensations seemed to evaporate as her mind came out of a disordered sense of existence. Not only was there no fog but it wasn't cool at all, and the thoughts of safety were a lie. In fact, getting a better look there was better reason to fear this place instead.

At first glance, what she had thought to be the hills near her home was instead a plain of death and decay, where thousands of little white skeletons littered the surrounds. The bodies looked like they had been dead for sometime now, and much like the forms of the demons she had seen last turn to smoke. It was like they had been as such for months.

What's more, aside from the demonic skeletal carpet, the sun – or where a sun should be – was now a fluxuating rift cut through the fabrics of reality. That for lack of appropriate knowledge base seemed to be some form of stellar anomaly that wasn't to exist in this plane of time.

"Ah," a familiar voice began from behind her, "I see you've awakened at last. I had feared you were to be lost to the catacombs we'd hoped to leave behind us. I do apologize for the 'pieces' that have seemed to accompany us through our travels."

She turned and regarded the man with a strange expression. She didn't understand what he had said.

"Regardless, it doesn't really matter this time. Our efforts seem to have failed us." He threw back part of his cloak and reached inside; pulling forth a strange crystalline sphere that seemed to hold a special meaning that she had forgotten. "The maelstrom in the other world has crossed the walls into this stream. We will not be able to fix the distortion this time."

"What are you talking about?" Zadien asked. She had little patience for babbling and incoherent fools. It seemed like he was talking on another level of familiarity and she didn't want any part of it. Rather, all things considering, she had had enough for one night. Distortions and reality slips all aside, it wasn't worth anything.

He regarded her passively for a moment before choosing his words. "You, why are we here today?"

She looked at him blankly and he sighed.

"To think that I've shown you more scenarios than days in a year, and just as we come to a form of understanding between us to correct catastrophes gone wrong, you have the gall to tell me that you've forgotten them all?! What a disappointingly dull woman you are. I don't even want to fathom a guess as to why you chose to develop amnesia now." He huffed a bit as the crystalline sphere seemed to implode in on itself and disappeared, only to reform a type of energy passage into a darkened oblivion.

"What's that?" she asked half-concerned. She didn't want anything more to do with man, regardless of whatever kind of relationship they might have had before.

"'That', is the passage into the beyond." He looked into the distance as a slight rumbling seemed to grip the lands around them, forcing the horrible little skeletons at her feet to rattle with a disgusting noise. Parts of the land seemed to be flowing into the sky towards the rift. "In ancient times it also went by the name of 'Kismet's Keep'. It is the world destroyer that I will use to set things as they are supposed to be."

"I don't understand anything." Zadien said despairingly. "I just want things to go back to normal."

"And that they will." Her mystery man said gravely. "Regardless if you remember or not, the events I've shown you until now all deal with the key to the destabilization of many worlds. Where magic and the supernatural continue to cross paths into different realities after the asundering of time and space, distortions from that world have continued into the worlds near it and farther away. All these are connected by but strands of reality. So in order to correct those I will pull the strands from this world into fate's gateway and thus separating the other worlds' fate from the one of this one." He smiled at her. "It's the least I can do for my girlfriend."

Without waiting for response he reached his hands out from the sides and grabbed the air itself, pulling it with him into the void before. Just as he did, the skeletons and the unnatural aspects of the land rose into the air and flowed into the gate after him, with the force of the hurricane-like winds forcing her eyes closed. She kept them closed as a giant squelching noise ripped across her ears and a darkness had claimed her.

In fear of the dark she opened her eyes in a hurry, to see… nothing. She was back in the lands she knew best. All aspects of the other worlds seemed gone and the sun had returned to its proper place. Was it over?

She shook her head. That was the weirdest dream ever.

"…_girlfriend."_

"Haha…" she laughed aloud. "Yeah, right!"

And with that last remark, she went home. She decided she had had enough of anything to do with the older religions and cultures for a while. After all, it was time to go back to see if anything had happened on the internet in her absence. That seemed much more exciting than anything else.

*****

*****

A/N - I ended it. The challenges were a momentary thing anyways, and I don't like leaving stories open without ending. I didn't want to go into other quests either.


End file.
